Adjustably contoured frame structure for eye shields and the like



2,762,051 Patented Sept. 11., 1956 ADJUSTABLY CONTOURED FRAME STRUCTURE FOR EYE SHIELDS AND THE LIKE Walter S. Finken, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Leonard P. Frieder, Great Neck, N. Y.

Application April 28, 1954, Serial No. 426,262

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-14) This invention relates to deformable or adjustably contoured frame structures, particularly frame structures for eye shields and the like, which frame structures are required to be mountable on surfaces of different contour, and to conform closely to such surfaces, when mounted thereon.

This invention is an improvement on the structure disclosed in the copending application of Walter S. Finken and Jackson A. Aileo, Serial No. 406,670, led January 28, 1954.

There is disclosed in the Finken and Aileo application an eye shield adapted for use in connection with headgear of the safety helmet type. The upper edge of the eye shield conforms to the helmet brim and the lower edge conforms to the face. Such a shield must conform to different faces. lt is also desirable that it be readily conformable to different helmet structures. The Finken and Aileo application shows an eye shield structure whose frame conforms readily to varying facial contours. While the frame of that application may be made to conform to various helmet contours, it nevertheless has only one normal contour, and departs from that contour only when maintained under externally applied stress.

An object of the present invention s to provide an eye shield of the type described, which is improved with respect to its adjustability to different facial contours and different helmet structures.

Another object is to provide a frame structure which may be adjusted as to contour by laterally exing it, and which when yso adjusted will maintain the new contour without being externally stressed. Another object of the invention is to provide a frame structure which may be adjusted with respect to its lengthwise contour, as by stretching.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combined window and frame structure which is adapted for mounting on surfaces of different contours.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are attained by forming the frame of readily deformable material such as rubber, with a reinforcing rod embedded in the frame and formed of material having a relatively low elastic limit. The deformable material is also stretchable, and a plurality of rods are used along the length of the frame, the ends of the several rods being slightly separated. The frame may therefore be stretched lengthwise by stretching the material adjacent the ends of the rods.

When used in an eye shield, the frame is provided with deep grooves to receive the margin of the window, and s further provided with notches to receive lugs on the window periphery to hold the window in the frame. The grooves are substantially deeper than the margin of the window, so as to allow lateral movement of the frame toward and away from the window.

Other yobjects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following specification taken together with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a front elevation of an eye shield lembodying the invention, with certain parts broken away and shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a person wearing a safety helmet and an eye shield of the type shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, simi- Y lar to Fig. 2, showing the eye shield in a generally central vertical section; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in perspective and partly in section, showing details of the frame construction.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown an eye shield comprising a frame 1 encircling a window 2. Suitable straps 3 are attached to the ends of the frame 1 and are provided with snaps 4 by which they may be attached to a helmet 5, as shown in Fig. 2. Frame 1 is provided with 3 an inwardly projecting ange 1a along its upper side. This flange is adapted to engage the bottom rim of the helmet 5 and so to determine the location of the upper portion of the frame. Along its lower side, the frame is provided with a similar inwardly projecting ange 1b, somewhat thinner and more flexible than the flange 1a and adapted to engage the face of the wearer. The frame 1 is also provided around its inner surface with a groove 1c adapted to receive the margin of the window 2. The window 2 is provided on its periphery with spaced lugs 2a adapted to be received in correspondingly formed notches in the frame 1 so as to hold the window 2 in place.

The inner face of the upper side of the frame 1 is provided with a plurality of grooves 6 which are eective to ventilate the space between the shield and the wearers face. The grooves 6 cooperate with spaces existing between the ends of the eye shield and the face which are necessarily provided where the helmet 5 is of the type shown, which includes a rigid shell mounted so as to be spaced from the wearers head. Such a helmet is shown, for example, in the copending application of Leonard P. Frieder and Walter S. Finken, Serial No. 201,904, led December 2l, 1950.

There is embedded in the frame 1, substantially throughout its periphery, a series of reinforcing rods 7 of a material having a relatively low elastic limit. The rods 7 are substantially stiffer than the rubber of the frame so that the contours of the rods determine the contour of the frame member. The rubber or other plastic material of which the frame 1 is principally yconstructed is readily deformable. When it is desired to change the contour of the frame 1 so that it will conform to a particular helmet or face, the frame may be readily deformed, by bending the rods 7, or one of them, until they are stressed beyond that elastic limit, so that the rod or rods 7 take up a new contour corresponding to that desired. The rods 7 in their new contour are somewhat stressed by the tendency of the rubber material to return to its original contour but that stress is not great. No external stress is required to be applied to the frame to hold it in its new contour. The ends of the several rods 7 are slightly separated, as shown for example at 7a in Fig. 4. By virtue of this separation, the frame 1 can be stretched by stretching the rubber material adjacent those ends 7a. Such a stretching may become necessary to t the eye shield onto some helmet structures.

The window 2 is of flexible material, so that it may readily follow lateral flexings of the frame member. The margin of window 2 is sufdciently wide as compared to the depth of groove 1c so that the margin stays in the groove even though one or more of the lugs 2a pulls out of its associated notch or notches.

It may also be desirable in some cases to provide in the flange 1b an embedded wire 8, Fig.. 3, of low elastic limit material. If such a Wire* 8 is provided, the wearer of the eye shield can adjust the contour of the tlange 1b so that it rests easily against his face substantially without any stress at all. The ange 1b `is then held in its desired contour on the internal stress on the material and on the wire 8.

A wide range of material is available for use as the embedded rods 7 and the wire 8. By way of one specific example, it is presently preferred to use extruded lead for both of those parts.

While the member 7 has been described as a rod and member 8 as a wire, the Vprincipal diierence between these two elements is one of diameter. The term rod, as used herein, is intended to be broad enough to include any mechanically equivalent element, regardless of its speciiic shape.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, other modifications thereof will readily occur to those skilled in the art, and I therefore intend my invention to be limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. An eye shield comprising frame means dening a window opening, said frame means comprising, on each of at least two opposite sides of the opening, a frame member deformable by elongation to conform to the contours of diierent supporting surfaces, each saidframe member comprising a body of stretchable material, and a plurality of alongated rods embedded in said body, said rods being of material substantially stiffer than said deformable maetrial so that the contour of the rods generally determines the contour of the -frame member, said rods having their adjacent ends. aligned and `spaced longitudinally of'the frame member so that said frame means may be elongated substantially without variation of its transverse .dimensions by stretching the stretchable material, adjacent said rod ends, and a window member in said opening.

2. An eye shield, `as defined in claim 1, in which said rods have an elasticlimit suciently low so that the unstressed lateral contour of said frame member may be readily varied by lateral exing, and said Window is of exible material so that it may follow lateral exing deformations of the frame member.

ReferencesCited in the le of this patent ,UNITED lSTATES PATENTS 1,272,309 Paupa July 9, 1918 1,397,250 Goodyear Nov. 15, 1921 V2,388,205 'Bernheim let al Oct. 30, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 128,192 Great'Britain Feb. l26, 1920 

